The Saints: (I'm) Stranded (1976)

 |   |  1 min read

The Saints: (I'm) Stranded (1976)

Bob Geldof once observed, "Rock music of the Seventies was changed by three bands -- the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and the Saints".

That the Saints out of suburban Brisbane -- hardly the home of rock music, let alone an angry and intelligent version -- should be in that illustrious company comes as no surprise to anyone who followed their career from this exceptional debut single, through wild covers (Lipstick on your Collar, Dizzy Miss Lizzy) and into their literate pop-rock of the Eighties.

Helmed by the socialist, Irish Catholic rebel Chris Bailey, the Saints were no mere punk band. In fact they arrived fully formed before British punk of the Pistols kind. And with long hair, a flair for melody and danceable music which said something, they were always a band apart.

They received huge acclaim the UK and US press (Sounds in Britain named (I'm) Stranded as "the single of this and every week"; NME said their album All Fools Day was "sensational"), but it was Bailey as an engaging frontmasn which consolidated their reputation.

He was smart, could see through the hype and freely admitted later "we have a long history of being contrary bastards". That too set them apart, and kept listeners on their toes.

Dozens of people passed through the Saints ranks and inevitably Bailey went solo (see interview here).

But for a debut single and launch-pad for a fascinating career, (I'm) Stranded takes some beating. 

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with a backstory see From the Vaults

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Doris Duke: To the Other Woman, I'm the Other Woman (1970)

Doris Duke: To the Other Woman, I'm the Other Woman (1970)

After Doris Duke - born Doris Curry then later singing as Doris Willingham -- recorded her album I'm a Loser at Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia in '69 with Jerry Williams Jnr they found it a... > Read more

Tom Russell: Chocolate Cigarettes (1991)

Tom Russell: Chocolate Cigarettes (1991)

Whether his stories are literally true or not (and some, like the Leadbelly song about boxer Jack Johnson being denied passage on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, aren't), the American... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Dadson/Shearer/Allen/Johnson: Day Breathes Night (AFR/digital outlets)

Dadson/Shearer/Allen/Johnson: Day Breathes Night (AFR/digital outlets)

Recorded in November 2021, this eight-piece collection brings together key figures in improvised experimental sound: Phil Dadson (From Scratch, here on various percussion); electronic artist Rachel... > Read more

THE BLUES HAD A BRITISH BABY (2021) And they called it . . . rock'n'roll, psychedelic rock and hard rock?

THE BLUES HAD A BRITISH BABY (2021) And they called it . . . rock'n'roll, psychedelic rock and hard rock?

The history of the blues has been written, rewritten, revised, over-written and turned into academic treatises and a subject for analysis. But it remains something which can get lost in the... > Read more